


A Conversation Long Overdue

by sunnysolace



Category: Heroes of Olympus - Fandom, Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Genre: Crying, Gen, Heartfelt, Hurt/Comfort, Nico di Angelo crying, Nico di Angelo hurt/comfort, percy is a good friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24384349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnysolace/pseuds/sunnysolace
Summary: Percy and Nico have a heart-to-heart at night. One of them ends up more upset than the other.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Percy Jackson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 57





	A Conversation Long Overdue

**Author's Note:**

> it’s so late when i’m writing this omg, anyways enjoy im kinda proud of this if i’m being honest :’))

Talks like this weren’t a common occurrence for Percy and Nico.

I mean, sure, they talked a good amount during the day, but that was just light conversation. This was some serious stuff. Neither of them were exactly sure about how it happened, but somehow the both of them ended up on the Poseidon cabin floor in the late hours of the night, sitting cross-legged a few feet away from each other.

“Do you ever think about it?”, asked Nico, snapping Percy out of his zoning out.

“Huh?”, asked Percy, scrunching his eyebrows.

“Tartarus.”, Nico spat out like it hurt to say the word. Percy couldn’t blame him if it did, honestly. Tartarus was an experience that neither of them would ever get over fully, the sounds down there, the sights, the shrill screams of the monsters stuck down there for eternity.

Percy almost thought Nico was pulling his leg when he asked the question, ‘Of course I think about Tartarus,’, Percy thought to himself, ‘who would I be if I didn’t?’

Still, he answered with as much nonchalant as he could muster up, “Sure I do, sometimes. Usually at night, I guess.”

Nico nodded and shifted in his position, bringing his knees up to under his chin and wrapping his arms loosely around his ankles. “I do too,”, he said flatly, pausing for a moment. “Not just at night though, you know? Like...kinda during the day too.”, he said looking up at the older demigod.

“Ohh,”, Percy said lightly, “do you tell anyone when do you?”

Nico shook his head, “Not really, I guess. I mean, sometimes I talk to Will about it, but that’s kinda it. What about you?”, he asked.

“What do you mean?”, Percy asked.

Nico have him a look before going more into detail, “When you think about it. Do you talk to anyone?”

Percy looked up be thought for a moment, “Well yeah, Annabeth mostly. She understands the best, you know? Given that she was there with me. But sometimes I tell my mom and Grover, too.”

Nico pursed his lips and smiled thinly, “That’s good, that you have people to talk to about it.”

Percy exhaled lightly and smiled, “Yeah, it is. You should try and talk to more people about it too, you know. I know it’s hard but it could really be helpful.”

Nico reached his hand up and scratched his temple, “Ha, yeah I would, but I think Will’s enough. You should’ve seen his face the first tile I told him about it, almost guilted me into telling him it was a joke”, he said, laughing dryly at the end.

“Oh..”, Percy said sympathetically, furrowing his eyebrows, “that’s not really fair, though.”

Nico looked up, confused, “It’s fine now, though. He was just surprised to hear it at first.”

Percy leaned towards Nico, placing his elbows on the side of his knees and the side of his face in his hands, “That’s good and all, but with all the gory, medical stories he tells you, he probably should’ve taken that better.”

Nico sat up straighter, looking almost aggressive, “Well, you can’t really expect him to take hearing that lightly. I’m sure your mom wasn’t totally pleasant when she heard what happened to you down there.”, he said, furrowing in his eyebrows.

Percy sighed, leaning back, “You have a point there.”, he said.

Nico thinned his lips and looked down at the tiles in the floor, quiet for a few seconds. “How did she take it?”, he said softly, still looking at the ground.

The son of Poseidon was a bit taken aback by the question as first, but soon cleared his throat and said, “She took it quietly at first, but then I started crying and she gave me a hug. I think she was kinda angry too, not at me, but just in general, y’know?”

“Yeah, I get that”, Nico replied, not making much eye contact.

Percy nodded and looked over at the window. By now, the campfire was long out and most cabins had all their lights out, given for his and the Hephaestus cabin, but he wasn’t really surprised by that.

He looked back over at Nico, who was studying the floor tiles like his life depended on it. “Have you talked to your dad much about it?”, Percy asked.

The younger demigod shook his head lightly, “No,”, he said, “I’m sure he wouldn’t be very interested in hearing about it, anyways. He practically works there.”

“But that doesn’t mean he isn’t worried about you, though. I’m sure that if you opened up to him a little, he would d-“, Percy was cut off.

“You don’t get it, Percy.”, Nico snapped. “You wouldn’t go up to Poseidon and start telling you entire life story, why should I do to the same with Hades?”, he asked.

“Well for one, Hades actually cared enough about you to acknowledge you as his son in times other than when he needs you for something, so I think that’s a start.”, Percy snapped back at Nico, making direct eye contact at him. Nico glared up at him for a few moments before exhaling hard and looking back at the ground.

Percy sighed and looked around the room for something entertaining to look at. His search was cut short, though, by a very audible sniffle coming a few feet away from him.

“I miss my mom”, he heard a whisper of a voice say as his head did a total 180, turning to see Nico harshly wiping his cheeks with his open palms.

“I don’t even remember her, but I miss her.”, Nico croaked, his voice like sandpaper with his attempt to not completely break down.

Percy grimaced, knowing that the night was going to get a lot longer. He sat up and scooted over to sit next to Nico, leaving just enough distance between them to fit a flat penny.

“Hey,”, Percy tried, “it’s okay.” ‘Oh man,’, he thought, ‘I am _so_ not good at this.’ “I’m sure wherever she is, deep down she misses you just as much as you miss her.”, he said, topping it off with a sad smile.

That, apparently, was not the best thing to say.

Nico put his hand onto his forehead and dropped his face onto his knees, letting loose a wave of sobs. His shoulders racked as he let out a type of anguish that’s so upsetting, it makes you feel physically ill.

Percy was dumbfounded, his internal monologue at this moment was just a series of “oh no”s and “what do i do”s being tossed around his head. Not wanting to cause anymore sadness, he brought his arm around Nico’s thin shoulders and brought him close and allowed the Hades’ son’s head to fall into the crook of his neck.

“Uhhh”, Percy said audibly, “it’s okay. It’s alright.”. He rubbed his thumb back and forth on Nico’s shoulder, hoping that could give him any addition comfort.

They stayed like there for a few more minutes before Nico inhaled harshly (or “snottily”, if you asked Percy) and wiped his face. His eyes were puffy and his cheeks and the tip of his nose were the color of a light sunburn.

“Are you okay?”, Percy asked softly, not moving his arm from Nico’s shoulder even though the latter had sat up.

“Yeah.”, Nico said quietly, still wiping his face. “Sorry about that, I don’t know what happened there.”

“It’s okay, don’t apologize. It must feel better to get all that out of your system”, Percy said, still softly, not wanting to provoke more tears.

“I guess, yeah. I think I’m gonna head back over to my cabin, it’s getting really late.”, the younger demigod said, standing up and fixing the hair that had fallen onto his forehead.

Percy stood up too, fixing his (newly stained with tears) shirt. “I could walk you to your cabin if you want, it’s pretty dark out there.”, he offered.

Nico laughed shortly, heading to the door. “I think I’m pretty accustomed to darkness, Percy.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it.”, Percy joked, feeling lighter than he had the entire evening.

Nico made it to the door and opened it up before turning back around to Percy, “Thanks, by the way.”, he said shyly, not making eye contact.

Percy smiled, “Anytime”, he replied with before he saw Nico nod and make his way to his cabin, leaving Percy to close the door. Percy sighed and went to lie down on his bed. feeling a wave of tiredness crash over him.

‘We should talk like that more often’ was one of the last thoughts he had before he let sleep overtake him.


End file.
